Syaoran Li
This article deals with Syaoran Li as he appears in Cardcaptor Sakura. For the Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle version of the characters, see Syaoran Li (Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle) and Tsubasa Li (who is referred to "Syaoran" throughout the story). Syaoran Li (Li (李) 李 小狼; pinyin: Li (李), LǏ Xiǎoláng (Xiǎoláng - lit. Little Wolf); katakana: リ・シャオラン Ri Shaoran) is a fictional character from CLAMP's anime and manga series Cardcaptor Sakura. In the English adaption of the show (known as Cardcaptors) his name is changed to Li Showron. Appearance Normally, Syaoran wears the uniform of his elementary school, but in combat, he can be seen adopting a more Chinese-style wear. He has short brown hair and large amber eyes, He is baby faced and short in height but appears to have grown in Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card. In Cardcaptor Sakura Movie 2: The Sealed Card , he is given a set of green battle robes from Tomoyo to match with Sakura in the battle to finding the antagonist ( the sealed card ) which turns out the card is only confused by emotions. Personality As a member of the famous Li clan of sorcerers from Hong Kong, of which Clow Reed's mother herself was also a member, Syaoran had firmly believed that he should be the one to capture and inherit the Clow Cards, not Sakura Kinomoto.Cardcaptor Sakura Chapter 6 He first appears as an antagonist in the story, capturing a few cards for himself in the anime. His initial attitude towards her was cold, critical, and socially awkward, to the extent of never even addressing her by her first name until the second season, and often criticized her bluntly for her flaws and clumsiness.Cardcaptor Sakura Episode 57 He was also portrayed as somewhat of a loner, given that he had been taught to be independent and self-reliant since childhood. However, as the series progresses, and especially after Sakura is officially deemed the new mistress of the Cards, Syaoran drops his rivalistic attitude towards her, and becomes a reliable ally and a beloved friend. He also opens up more to others, especially Tomoyo, to whom he confides in a well-guarded secret: his feelings of friendship for Sakura had deepened into love, to the extent where his blushes in Sakura's presence became increasingly often, and he becomes madly jealous when she pays more attention to any other male. However, the naive and innocent Sakura is completely oblivious to these feelings, and thinks of him simply as an intimate friend. It was only after their final magical duel with Eriol did he find the courage to confess to her how he truly felt about her. By the end of the series, he has completely mellowed in comparison to his initial attitude. Relationships Sakura In the beginning of the series, Syaoran is more antagonistic, spawned from his belief that they should compete for the cards to see who is worthy of wielding them. After the Final Judgment, Sakura is declared the new master of the Cards, leaving Syaoran, essentially, a failure. At the start of the third season, Syaoran plans on returning home to Hong Kong, until newcomer Eriol Hiiragizawa comes along and starts charming Sakura. At this point in the series, Syaoran's feelings toward Sakura have slowly changed from that of rivalry to that of an elementary school crush. Sakura's consistently cheerful attitude and warm smiles cause more and more blushes on Syaoran's cheeks. Much to his surprise, Syaoran finds himself jealous over the fact that another student is getting too close to Sakura, and he in turn stays in Tomoeda for the remainder of the school year.Cardcaptor Sakura Episode 47 Syaoran finally confesses that he is in love with her face-to-face at the end of the next-to-last episode of the series.Cardcaptor Sakura Episode 69 The news comes as a major surprise to Sakura, who had always viewed Syaoran as a close friend. Sakura broods over the thought, which ends with Syaoran planning to leave Tomoeda for Hong Kong. Sakura hears about his unannounced leave just in time to run to find him at the airport. He is holding a homemade teddy bear, which he had considered giving to Sakura but never found the right chance. Instead, Sakura asks if she could have the bear in his arms. There is a tradition stated in the series (it is not an actual Japanese tradition) that when one person gives another a personally-made plush, if the receiver names the plush after its creator (the giver in this case), then both people will be together forever. Sakura is never seen giving a name to the bear, but the symbolism of her accepting his bear is enough to suggest that Sakura returns the feelings, despite how sudden they appeared.Cardcaptor Sakura Episode 70 In the second movie, Syaoran returns to Japan with his cousin Meiling Li who was having secret phone calls with Tomoyo Daidōji who helped plan their return. Tomoyo and Meiling attempt to organize outings for Sakura to tell Syaoran about how she feels but, rather amusingly, she gets interrupted until the end of the movie, where Syaoran sacrifies himself to the Sealed Card's attack so that Sakura wouldn't lose her most precious feeling. In tears, Sakura confesses her love believing that Syaoran had forgotten his love for her. She begins to cry but Syaoran surprisingly replies "Me too, Sakura." Sakura is so overjoyed by the revelation, that she recklessly leaps across a large hole in the floor to reach Syaoran, despite his protests for her safety. The film ends on a cliffhanger with Sakura halfway through the air, but a still image released with the film shows that she makes the leap, right into Syaoran's arms. :The manga concludes the development of their relationship differently. Instead, after a major battle, as in the anime, Syaoran finds a quiet moment in Penguin Park to confess his love to Sakura. Sakura, again, is left in a mild state of shock as she tries to absorb the words, while Syaoran, content after revealing his feelings, tells her to be careful going back home and then leaves. The rest of the volume of the Cardcaptor Sakura is focused on Sakura trying to work out her feelings for Syaoran. She eventually runs into Syaoran as he is packing up to leave for Hong Kong, now that the purpose for his coming to Japan are over. :After Sakura realizes (with the help of her friends) that she too loves Syaoran, she succeeds in confessing her feelings to him just as he is about to leave for Hong Kong, along with giving him the teddy bear she made. Syaoran promises her that he will return once his work in Hong Kong is finished, and she promises to wait for him as long as it takes. :Time passes. An older Sakura, now in middle school, is (again) late for school. Rushing along the way, she sees Syaoran, who is also dressed in a Tomoeda secondary school uniform, holding the bear that she gave him. Syaoran is happy to announce that he is through with his duties in Hong Kong and is now in Tomoeda to stay. There would be no more need for letters and phone calls any longer. Sakura, filled with happiness, jumps into Syaoran's arms and happily exclaims that they can be "together forever".Cardcaptor Sakura Volume 12 Yukito Before his relationship with Sakura, Syaoran found himself attracted to Yukito Tsukishiro, often blushing madly and abruptly running away at the sight of him. While Sakura also harbored a crush on Yukito, Syaoran would compete with her for his affections, usually by getting him a better present, making him better food, or giving the better compliment. As he shows no interest in Sakura in the first season, the impression is given that he and Sakura are rivals, for the cards and for love. It is revealed later that Syaoran was magically attracted to the magical energies of the moon, which were residing within Yukito, as Syaoran drew his magical power from the moon. Sakura, although she was drawn to a person that housed "power", was truly in love with Yukito, as stated by Cerberus (Kero).Episode 51 Cerberus Syaoran and Cerberus did not have a good relationship: they often get into passionately heated arguments, Syaoran calls him a "plush toy", or a "stuffed animal", while Cerberus retorts with patronizing terms like "kid", and "brat". It was stated that this was probably because Syaoran draws his magical powers mainly from the moon, while Cerberus draws his from the sun, which is why they do not get along, which is utterly unlike Sakura, whose powers have a balance of both the sun and the moon. Though they do not get along at all, they put up with each other for Sakura's sake, and were shown to be actually capable of civil conversations, despite the fact that such instances are extremely few and far in between. Tomoyo In the beginning, Syaoran neither liked nor disliked Tomoyo Daidōji, seemingly preferring to not take much notice of her. However, as he grew to open up his heart to others, they became good friends, though it did not stop Tomoyo from frequently teasing Syaoran about his secret love for Sakura, or provoking his jealousy by pointing out how gallant and charming Eriol constantly is to Sakura. Nonetheless, she proves herself to still be a reliable friend and ally to Syaoran by giving him advice on his feelings for Sakura. Powers and Abilities Swordsmanship: Syaoran is shown, or at least implied, to be an excellent swordsman, wielding a chinese jian, which he uses to activate his magic. Magic: Using several elemental ofuda, he is able to create the same effects as the Clow Cards, which he used to fend off Yue during the Final Judgment. He can use fire, water, wind and lightning based spells, being the last ones, which he uses most. Using a device known as the Lasin Board, he can track the Clow Cards. Clow Cards: Although he claims certain Clow Cards for himself in the anime, Syaoran does not actually capture any Cards, as the act of capturing can only be performed using Sakura's sealing wand. However, if Syaoran has played a major role in weakening or cornering the Card entity prior to its capture, credit for the capture is awarded to him (as the materialized Card floats autonomously to its owner after capture). While Sakura writes her name in rōmaji on the Clow Cards, Syaoran writes his name in Chinese characters. Appearances in Other Media Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Syaoran is mentioned in xxxHolic as living in the same world as Yuko Ichihara and Kimihiro Watanuki. Sakura Li implies that during a dream in which Sakura Kinomoto gave her the Star Wand, she also met Syaoran LiTsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle chapter 224. Trivia *A major change to Syaoran's character in Cardcaptors involves elevating Li Showron to become the male lead character, rather than a supporting character for Sakura in Cardcaptor Sakura. Here, Li is also referred to as a Cardcaptor, while he has no such title in the original series, as Cerberus never selected him, and he has no initial ability to seal cards for himself. *Syaoran's four sisters are mentioned in the anime, and are only seen in the first Cardcaptor Sakura movie. His sisters are Fanren, Fuutie, Feimei and Shiefa (alternative spelling Xiefa?). His mother and sisters are briefly mentioned in the Cardcaptor Sakura manga when Sakura, Tomoyo, and Syaoran are trying to capture the Maze card. His mother's name is Yelan. *A common theme in fan fiction is that Syaoran is a prince (with Sakura taking various roles). It may have been this which at least partially influenced Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. *Syaoran's father is said to be deceased. In the anime it is implied he is responsible for the wealth of the Lis. *Syaoran's voice actor Motoko Kumai sang Syaoran's theme called Ki Ni Naru Aitsu (That Girl I Can't Ignore) which was first in episode 57 of Cardcaptor Sakura *As stated in the seventh chapter of the original manga series #His favourite color is green #His favourite food is chocolate and Dim Sum and least favourite is Yam Jelly #His favourite subjects are gym and math and least favourite is japanese #His blood type is O *Syaoran's name (meaning "little wolf") sounds similar to Shao Long, "little dragon", which is one of famous Bruce Lee's surnames. References Category:Cardcaptor Sakura characters Category:Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle characters Category:Characters mentioned in xxxHolic